With the convergence of home entertainment technologies, there are a growing number of devices that store many different forms of content, such as music, movies, pictures, TV programs, videos, games, and so forth. Devices like digital video recorders (DVRs), game consoles, and entertainment-configured computers (e.g., computers that run the Windows® XP Media Center operating system from Microsoft Corporation) enable users to record, manage, and playback many different forms of content. Even less featured devices, such as set-top boxes, can be designed to record multiple types of content.
As such devices are configured to store more content and offer more functionality, the ability to present the various forms of recorded content in a cohesive, understandable, and user-friendly manner continues to be a challenge. This is particularly true for recorded TV programs. Traditionally, home entertainment devices have simply provided a title or other text identifier of recorded TV programs. It would be useful if other techniques for identifying and navigating recorded TV programs were developed.